We recently received confirmation that AMD has completed documentation of the new Stoney Ridge platform. Just like the mainstream Bristol Ridge platform set to succeed Kaveri Refresh in 2016, Stoney Ridge will be one last hurrah from the Bulldozer family. Designed to feature 2 x86 Excavator cores the low end APU looks like a “Carrizo cut in half” our source informs.

Not an official AMD poster. @AMD @Wccftech

Stoney Ridge platform detailed – Low Power APUs for the AM4 socket

It looks like AMD has one more processor up its sleeve that will feature the Bulldozer family. The Stoney Ridge APU will feature 2 x86 Excavator cores and 3 GCN cores for a grand total of 5CUs. Comparatively, the main APUs usually have a combination of 4 x86 cores and 8 GCN cores. This APU will be socketed on the AM4, FP4 and FT4 packages – so it will make an appearance on the mobility side as well. The TDP of the APU is not known at the moment although rumors put the power draw of the mobility chip at around 14W. These APUs are targeted at the casual HTPC build will probably feature the single DDR4 IMC controller. This is completely fine since by 2016 or so, DDR4 memory prices will be cheaper than DDR3.

Now one of the things that I should mention is that the Stoney Ridge platform is odd. Its existence is very difficult to justify based simply on what we know which leads us to my final remarks. Here are a few possible explanations about the oddity that is Stoney. This platform could be AMD diversifying their portfolio in the form of a new low power, low end APU for strictly HTPC builds.It could also be a 14nm test drive core. The reason the table below shows the process as undecided is because we don’t have confirmation of the exact node and while Excavator cores beg 28nm, something tells me to hold my hand just yet. Its possible that AMD could use the Stoney Ridge platform to test the 14nm process at low clocks. It is even possible that that AMD (being AMD), ignore the documentation and decide to put Zen cores in Stoney.